India Fires a Message to China

India successfully test-fired a ballistic missile that has the range to reach Beijing and Shanghai. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks with editor Margherita Stancati on what it means for China-India relations.

By

Margherita Stancati

Updated April 20, 2012 1:33 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI—India's successful test of a nuclear-capable missile, which it hopes will send a message of strength to China, drew a heated response from some state-affiliated Chinese media Thursday, while Beijing sought to play down the test and its impact on ties between the two countries.

Overall, the launch early Thursday from an island off India's east coast, one in a series of regular tests, drew little criticism or expressions of mistrust from outside India.

India's relations with China are stable, though frosty. The two fought a 1962 war over disputed borders in the Himalayas, which Beijing won. The main achievement of the test-firing was one of range: The locally built Agni-V missile can now travel 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles)—or comfortably as far as most of China, including Beijing and Shanghai, which many in India view as a decisive step in narrowing the nation's military gap with its neighbor.

"India has finally reached deterrence parity with China," said Bharat Karnad, a security expert at the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank.

The Global Times, a Chinese nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily newspaper, warned India not to be "arrogant during disputes with China" after the Agni-V launch. "India should be clear that China's nuclear power is stronger and more reliable. For the foreseeable future, India would stand no chance in an overall arms race with China."

In Thursday's test launch, India fired a Agni V missile, which has a range of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), from a mobile launcher on Wheeler Island, just off the coast in the Bay of Bengal. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Chinese officials were more circumspect. At a daily briefing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Beijing had taken note of the test but added that, "India and China are not rivals but cooperative partners."

He added: "That said, India has a solid nonproliferation record. They're engaged with the international community on nonproliferation issues."

Mr. Karnad, the security expert, said the tests had little impact on Pakistan, a nuclear power that has fought three wars with India. New Delhi's shorter-range ballistic missiles already cover Pakistani territory, he said. There was no immediate response to the test from Pakistani officials.

Experts say Agni-V places the country on a footing with China, which already has missiles capable of striking deep into Indian territory. Earlier Indian missiles had a range of up to 3,500 kilometers, while the new one can travel even deeper into China.

New Delhi and Beijing continue to contest large parts of their shared 4,000-kilometer Himalayan frontier, despite warming trade relations between the nations. India's government views its nuclear capabilities as crucial because Beijing can afford to spend much more on conventional defense than New Delhi.

Many Indians see the country's nuclear program as key to asserting its influence on world affairs. In 1998, India's nuclear tests were code-named "Operation Shakti," the Sanskrit word for strength. A former ballistic-missile scientist, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, became the nation's figurehead president in 2002 to 2007.

NDTV, an Indian cable news channel, called the test Thursday from Wheeler Island, off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa, a "high-five moment for Agni and India" in screen graphics accompanying its coverage.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the launch, which he termed "another milestone in our quest to add to the credibility of our security and preparedness and to continuously explore the frontiers of science."

Much of India's nuclear strategy focuses on improving delivery vehicles.

ENLARGE

Indian border-security officers at a base in Amritsar watch coverage of Thursday's successful test of a missile that could reach Beijing.
Associated Press

"Because there is so little public discussion on the nuclear weapons themselves, the frequent testing of a diverse array of ballistic missiles, of increasingly longer range, is the most visible reminder of India's growing nuclear capability," M.V. Ramana, a nuclear-energy expert, wrote in a recent report.

India is aiming to complete a "nuclear triad," a system that would allow nuclear weapons to be delivered from air, land and sea.

The missiles in the Agni series, which take their name from the Hindi word for fire, are the cornerstone of India's mobile land-based nuclear-delivery system.

India's "Arihant" nuclear-powered submarine was launched in 2009 but still hasn't formally entered into active service. It is unclear whether India's range of fighter jets, which include Jaguar IS/IB, Mirage 200-H and Sukhoi-30 MKI models, are capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

—Diksha Sahni in New Delhi and Dinny McMahon in Beijing contributed to this article.

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